Sunday. Warm. Cloudless. 10 people + 1 dog hiked Bluegrass Ridge (map) one way hike with car shuttle. Coming in from Elk Meadow TH, ending with a detour to Tamanawas waterfall. Total ~13 miles. Started hiking shortly before 10am, finished ~5:30pm, with a couple of long breaks, 2 creek crossing (not difficult). Very dusty. Almost constant view of Hood, on the ridge, Rainier and Adams are clearly visible, and at some point Jefferson and 3 Sisters. Countless fallen trees with sharp broken branches pointing at you. No blood shed, plenty scratches and bruises. The best thing of this hike is NO other people along the ridge. I'm surprised to see this many flowers in June.
Elk Meadow TH is right next to Meadows ski area: ample parking. Easy gentle slope, tons of beargrass, until Newton Creek. More than 2 places with logs cross, so no difficulty. The slope picks up after Newton Creek, more beargrass. At the next clearly marked 4-way junction (left to Gnarls Ridge and connect to Timberline, straight is Elk Meadow), we turned right, and upwards for Bluegrass Ridge, all the way with beargrass. Once arrived at the ridge, we took the short spur trail ahead to Elk Mountain Vista, and had a good break. 
View of Jefferson, 3 Sisters, semi-concealed by the trees. I walked down slope for a better photo shot with lupine and mariposa lily.
Back to the 3 way junction, turn north, starting walking in mostly dead trees. Beargrass gave away to lupine, and lots of lupine. Some places penstemon and some yellow flowers. This is ridge walk, unmaintained, but still easy going. Mt Hood can always been seen to the left, dark green valley to the right. Not much shade. Lunch. 
Soon, the ridge goes downhill. More downfalls, and more, until our pace slowed down to crawl. At one spot, saw hundreds of Columbine, with no sign of water. Odd. As we came down the slope, finally found the faint trail again. Still fallen logs, but not as bad. Eventually, we saw evidence of trail work: freshly cut log. THANK YOU, volunteers! 
After crossing Coldwater Creek (only Robert and I were able to walk the single log across), we finally hit Elk Meadow Trail again. Turn right (north) to Pollalie TH. We took a short in(up)-and-out to see the Tamanawas Falls. Lovely. Wide and tall. You can walk behind it too! Feels refreshing on this warm (hot) day. Reached the 2 shuttle cars, happy with the ice cold beer Juergen brought in his cooler. 10 of us and the dog piled in 2 SUVs and drove to the beginning of the hike for the 3rd car.The group decided to stop at Zigzag's El Burro Loco for Mexican food. I had wild boar taco - too dry. Outdoor seating, not crowded, fresh guacamole. I didn't get home until 10pm.
